Sweden's Norén started the competition in the Bahamas with a miss, but has slowly picked up. On Sunday, he finished tied for third, three strokes behind Austrian Sepp Straka – and it could only get better.
On the final day, he played with Japanese player Hideki Matsuyama, who looked to be heading for a sure victory when Norém woke up with four holes to go. He caught up with the Japanese player by three strokes and both went through a round of 64 strokes, finishing with the lowest score of all, -22. This set up a playoff, which Matsuyama won with a birdie against Norén's par on the first hole.
"Somehow I felt I could do it. I felt like I was playing well enough, but unfortunately I couldn't put enough pressure on Hideki with my second shot in the match," he said, according to Golfmagic .
It's tough to lose like this, but it's a great feeling to take with you to next year.
Alex Norén has won two DP World Tour events this year and climbed to 17th place in the world rankings. He has not won on the PGA Tour so far, but he doesn't have to worry about a missed opportunity to win there either - the Hero World Challenge invitational competition gives ranking points, but does not have official PGA status. Norén received $450,000, equivalent to 4.2 million kronor, for his second place finish.
Henrik Stenson won the 2019 competition, where only 20 invited players participate.
